Iranian chess player is banned after refusing to wear hijab, swaps to US

A female chess player who stood up to Iran's strict Islamic dress code is castling to the US.

Dorsa Derakhshani was banned from the Iranian national team after she attended an international competition without wearing an Islamic hijab. According to The Telegraph, the event in question was the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess tournament in February.

At the same event, her brother was banned after a computer matched him up against Israeli grandmaster Alexander Huzman. Iran has a history of refusing to let its “athletes” compete against Israelis.

Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh, president of Iran's chess federation announced that the two were banned from playing for Iran. Now, Dorsa has switched to the US Chess Federation.